Surprise Party
by suburbs
Summary: Caitlyn thought that Mitchie and Nate were planning a surprise party for her. She really hated surprise parties. Written with Loved-Invention. Happy Birthday Nata!


_Disclaimer: We don't own Camp Rock, the Getty, or Griffith Park._

_A/N: Loved-Invention and I wanted to write something for MissNata13's birthday tomorrow. This is what we came up with._

_Dedication: Happy Birthday, Nata!_

A few weeks before Caitlyn's birthday, her two best friends began having whispered conversations that stopped abruptly as soon as she approached them. This unusual behavior peaked her curiosity, so she started to watch them more carefully and noticed that Nate seemed nervous, even jumpy, while Mitchie seemed distracted and excited.

She began to fear the worst.

A surprise party.

Caitlyn hated surprise parties. She actually hated surprises in general, but surprise parties in particular. Either the person found out in advance and had to choose between disappointing her friends and family or pretending to be surprised, which always seemed like lying to her, or they sensed something was off without knowing the reason, leaving them unsettled and insecure. Because people are rarely able to pull off a perfect surprise. There is always some hint, something out of the ordinary that gives it away.

Plus, Caitlyn didn't understand why making the effort to throw a party in secret was any more meaningful than doing the same planning without all the sneaking around. It seemed like a waste of time and effort to her.

Mitchie and Nate had heard her opinions about surprised parties many times, so they should have known better. She expected that her best friends would respect her enough to not throw her one, but after careful consideration she decided that all signs pointed in that direction.

She thought about confronting them, but then they could just deny it. Instead, she decided to wait and watch. When Nate called to see if she wanted to spend her birthday with him, she knew she was on to something. He must be the distraction – he would keep her occupied and out of the way while Mitchie got things ready.

Caitlyn agreed to the plan, but she wasn't going to make it easy for him.

The morning of her birthday, Nate arrived bright and early at Caitlyn and Mitchie's apartment. Caitlyn had to admit he looked dashing in his jeans, button down shirt and coat. She almost felt guilty when she opened the door in the sweat pants and old ratty t-shirt.

"Didn't we agree on eight-thirty?" Nate said in confusion. "Why aren't you ready?"

"I was thinking maybe we could just hang out here today. We haven't worked on a song together in awhile, and I thought that might be fun."

"But what about breakfast? Don't you want to go grab something to eat?"

Caitlyn waved dismissively, "We have cereal and milk here."

Nate looked flustered as he stuttered, "But…"

"Come on, Nate," she pushed. "It's my birthday. Shouldn't I get to pick what we do?"

He sighed, and she knew she had won. "Okay."

Caitlyn almost gave up on her plan several times throughout the day. He was so distracted while they were working on the song that she ended up doing most of it herself, which was odd because he was usually really intense about his music. If he hadn't looked so adorable fidgeting and running his hand through his curls, she would have been annoyed. Instead, she decided to take some pity on him and leave the apartment. At least that way Mitchie couldn't be angry with him.

But instead of letting him pick the activity, she told him she wanted to go paintballing. The idea of pelting neat-freak Nate with big blobs of paint seemed like a fantastic idea. It was really hard to get the paint out of your hair; she couldn't wait to see him at a party covered in paint. For hours, she and Nate battled it out at the paintball field, but for some reason, Caitlyn ended up winning every game. She couldn't help but notice that her friend seemed sort of down. She knew he was competitive, but she hadn't expected it to bother him that much that he lost. Or maybe he was worried about the party.

When they finally arrived at her front door, Caitlyn felt a flicker of guilt as she took in Nate's appearance. He still had bits of paint in his hair, and his shoes and jeans were covered in mud from when he tripped and tore his coveralls on a branch. Brushing it aside, she opened her front door and braced herself for what was next – the part where people jumped out at her and yelled "surprise".

Except that nothing happened.

Her apartment was empty and looked exactly as it had when they left earlier that day. Confused, Caitlyn turned to Nate and asked, "Where is everybody?"

"Huh?"

"The surprise party. Where is everyone?"

"There's no surprise party, Cait. You've told us a million times hate them."

A cold fear spread through Caitlyn's body, "Then why have you and Mitchie been sneaking around and acting so secretive? You two aren't…" The thought of her friends dating made her feel physically ill. "You aren't together, are you?"

"What? No!" Nate sighed. "I wanted to make your birthday special, so she was helping me plan things. But nothing went according to plan."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Look, I'm tired and filthy, so I think I'm just going to go home," Nate said dejectedly. "Happy Birthday, Caity."

Caitlyn felt her eyes prickle with tears as she watched Nate walk towards the door. He had been attempting to do something nice for her, and she had ruined everything by trying to be too clever. And in the process, she knew she had hurt him. Somehow she had hurt Nate, the one person who mattered the most to her.

"Wait!"

Nate turned and looked back at her.

"What was supposed to happen?"

"I was taking you to breakfast at the diner we go to on Sundays before going to see that exhibit at the Getty you've been talking about."

"The one no one would go to with me?"

He nodded. "And Mitchie packed us a lunch so we could have a picnic overlooking the city. And then I was going to take you to the carousel in Griffith Park and the Ferris Wheel at the pier."

"That would have been an absolutely perfect day." Caitlyn said miserably. "I'm so sorry, Nate. I thought you were giving me a surprise party, even though I hated them, and I ended up ruining everything. I should have known better; I should have trusted you."

"It's okay Cait."

A thought suddenly struck her, "Nate? How come you went through so much trouble for me? And why did you put up with everything today? I know you were miserable."

"Because you're my best friend, and I care about you."

For some reason, Caitlyn found that answer disappointing. The sneaking around, the thought and effort had given her a small hope that maybe there was something more. "Oh," she said flatly. "Well, thanks. I care about you too."

"What's the matter? Did I say something wrong?"

"No, it's me. I'm just getting everything wrong today."

"What are you talking about?"

Caitlyn shook her head, "Everything you said just sort of seemed like maybe there was something more. Almost like a date or something. But that's stupid, I know." She gave him a small smile, "Thanks again, Nate. I'm sorry I screwed everything up."

Nate stood looking at her closely, searchingly almost, before blurting out, "I wanted to kiss you!"

"What?"

"I was going to pay the guy to stop the Ferris Wheel when we were at the top so I could kiss you like in that TV show you liked."

Caitlyn's breath caught in her throat. Nate wanted to kiss her. He had wanted to kiss her, and she had almost missed her chance. But she wasn't going to give up that easily. She looked him in the eyes and began to cross the room towards him. "You know, the pier is still open. If we leave now, we can still have that ride." She saw him smile in response. "And I've always wanted to kiss someone at the top of a Ferris Wheel."

"Really?" He asked huskily. "Well, then, birthday girl, let's go for a ride."

She felt a shiver go through her at the sound of his voice. The way he was looking at her, it was entirely possible that she wasn't going to be able to wait until they got to the pier. She licked her lips involuntarily before saying breathily, "Maybe we don't have to leave right away."

"No?" He asked teasingly, knowing perfectly well what she meant. "Why would you want to stick around here?"

Caitlyn rolled her eyes at his attempt to be clever. Normally she would have tried to come up with some witty banter in response, but it was her birthday; she didn't feel like waiting for her present. Instead she reached up and put her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her. Closing her eyes, she felt his lips press against hers. As he deepened the kiss, she had a brief thought that the Ferris wheel was going to have to wait for another day. Because this was exactly where she wanted to be.


End file.
